Hen with swollen face... bug sting/bite or something else?

[Eggcessive]

You can use 1/2 tsp of a childrens Benadryl liquid (1/4 of an adult 25 mg tablet) in case of an allergic reaction to a bee or insect sting, to see if it helps. An eye can swell from a peck wound, and is seen in mycoplasma (MG.) There can also be bubbles in the eye.

Sometimes those hazy eye pictures can happen when the third eye lid (nictitating membrane) is covering the eye at just the right split second.

Are you seeing the irregular shaped pupils in both chickens? One looks like a coloboma, but I just wanted to mention the other one.

 

[Kris5902]

Colomba? On the non swollen girl she has a kind of flat look to the top, but the dark spot on the girl with the swelling isn’t her pupil, it’s a darker spot in the iris (assuming I remember my 9th grade science dissection correctly) I haven’t noticed any vision issues

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can use 1/2 tsp of a childrens Benadryl liquid (1/4 of an adult 25 mg tablet) in case of an allergic reaction to a bee or insect sting, to see if it helps. An eye can swell from a peck wound, and is seen in mycoplasma (MG.) There can also be bubbles in the eye.

Sometimes those hazy eye pictures can happen when the third eye lid (nictitating membrane) is covering the eye at just the right split second.

Are you seeing the irregular shaped pupils in both chickens? One looks like a coloboma, but I just wanted to mention the other one.

I too was looking at the pupils on both birds, wondering about the irregular shape, jagged edges.
I agree, try the Benadryl and see if that helps.

 

[Kris5902]

I will dose up a “special snack” for her for tomorrow morning with the Benadryl if it’s still swollen... I honestly hadn’t noticed the pupils at all.

And wow... when you zoom in on that last pic of Andrew holding my swollen faced Mrs maran you can totally see the membrane line!

 

[Eggcessive]

Coloboma is a birth defect in the iris which causes the pupil to resemble a keyhole. It occurs in humans and most animals and birds. Mareks disease can cause an irregular iris also making the pupil to be irregular shaped. Here is an interesting photo display of coloboma in birds:
https://www.onthewingphotography.com/wings/2012/02/27/birds-with-blown-eyes/

 

[Eggcessive]

Just one example of the irregular shaped iris causing an irregular pupil in ocular Mareks in the right photo.

 

[Eggcessive]

Nictitating membrane in chicken.

 

[Kris5902]

Oh my.... let’s not use the “M” word here please... I am so not ready for that bag of worms Nope nope nope! That would be why I am posting though. Before BYC I didn’t have a clue about so many chicken illnesses... only avian influenza and VND make the news here.

Everyone looks healthy and Hale except for the swelling

I will look more carefully at their eyes again tomorrow when I let them out in the morning... maybe it’s mostly the lighting?

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh, sorry, I wasn’t saying they had Mareks. But just wanted to point out the pupil shape. Mareks causes a grey eye as well as the irregular pupil. And there are other conditions that can do those.

 

[Kris5902]

Scared me there... but it is good to know! I did ask for other possibilities. I had not noticed the pupil irregularities myself, so I’m glad I posted and have been better informed because of it. I am praying though because I don’t know if I could handle a Mareks outbreak in my flock.